Hidden and Covered
by checkerboardom
Summary: When tha BAU gets a new intern, fourteen year old Serena Carter, they don't realize that she might become a potential case. Sucky summary I know, but its actally kinda good.
1. New Intern

**Hey I hope you all enjoy my first ever fanfic. I started this story for a school assignment and decided that it needed to be finished. So without further haggle or monotalkilitus on my part-chapter 1!**

**Declaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds . . . Or Reid(sadly) but as for the rest it all comes from that old gray thing in my head. Enjoy!**

_

Garcia's heels clacked on the floor as she approached Hotch's office. "You called for he royal cyber goddess?" she asked.

Hotch looked up from a file he had received from Strauss and gave her one of his rare smiles. "I need you to train a new intern. She applied to help out in technical analyzing so I thought it would be best to introduce her to you. Just show her the ropes and keep her out of trouble."

"Trouble, sir?" the red-head asked.

"Yes. She's rather young."

"Well so is Reid but we don't let him drive us insane."

"Thank you, Garcia. She gets here at four. I hope your room is clean." Garcia's smile vanished. It was . . . sort of.

Serena pulled her jacket sleeves down so that they completely covered her hands. She turned the volume down on her mp3 which was an old battery powered version. She found these much better that the newer ones. She closed her eyes the elevator dinged signaling her arrival at the bullpen where she would be starting her internship.

Stepping out the first thing she saw was a cherry red haired woman in orange pumps. The woman had a sparkly pink pen tucked behind her ear and she smiled at Serena.

"Hey, my name is Penelope Garcia. You must be Serena." Serena saw and noted the look of surprise on the woman's face when she first saw her.

"Yes, I am. I want to know if I could give you guys a couple of gifts before I started today. You guys had a case last year that involved one of my friends and I never got a chance to thank you properly."

When Garcia nodded Serena went about distributing her gifts. A bag of sugar for Reid who she informed was not supposed to be used all at once. Morgan received a dog bone for Cloonie and Rossi got a book on international law. Serena gave Prentiss a circle link puzzle and JJ got a copy of Green Eggs and Ham. Lastly Serena walked into Hotch's office. The team leader was on the phone so she just left the small envelope on his desk.

She smiled at Garcia who led her to her to her den of cyber imperia.

Hotch ended the call and turned to notice the envelope on his desk. It was labeled "Read Me!" in block letters.

_Hotch,_

_Thank you so much for this opportunity to help out. You couldn't possible know how much it means to me. I won't let you down. The tickets are for you and Jack. You deserve to smile. Trust me I know how hard it is to lose some one you love. Again you have my thanks._

_Sincerely,_

_Serena Carter._

Hotch set the letter down, took out the baseball tickets and smiled.

*.*

"How old are you, Serena?" Garcia asked. The girl looked up from her book and typed something on her laptop.

"I'm fourteen."

"What school do you go to?" Garcia didn't want to pry but hey curiosity killed the cat.

"Uh, I used to go to Eastman High, I'm in the tenth grade but I switched to home schooling because I figured I'd finish high school sooner if I did."

"Wow. That's pretty cool. So you're a tech whiz." Garcia said. Serena nodded and they set about getting Serena acquainted with technical analyzing.

*.*

Serena stepped off the bus and made her way to her best friend's house. Everything had gone great during her first day and Garcia seemed happy to answer any of her questions. Serena was extremely smart for her age but being a fourteen year old tenth grader had it's set backs. Like her best friend Rachel being a whole two grades lower than her. And being a complete computer geek didn't help either.

Ms Rutherford answered the door on the first knock and smiled at Serena.

"Come on in. Rachel's up in her room." The woman went back into the living room where she had been watching Law and Order and Serena headed upstairs to her friend's room.

Rachel was jumping on her bed singing Katy Perry's "Pearl". Serena grabbed a throw pillow off the floor and chucked it at her head.

"Hey! What the-" she yelled as she lost her balance.

Serena smiled at her. "Sorry Rae, I just couldn't let you kill that poor cat. My heart let alone my ears couldn't take it."

"Oh ha-ha-ha, you're so very funny" She blonde puffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "Well at least I don't sound like bagpipes getting run over by a semi-truck." They glared at each other for a moment before dissolving into giggles.

"Okay so how'd your first day go." Rachel asked. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed with a pillow in her lap. Serena took the swivel chair by the desk.

"It was wonderful. Garcia's amazing and you should see her computer system. Her hard drive is like supernova fast and has like 3 million bits worth of storage. I mean her systems is a state the art, virus proof, super computer from cyber heaven. And you don't even want me to get started on he RSMP. She has a STWR cadaver hooked to her corpulence monitor. That has been done since like ever!"

Rachel let out a snore and keeled over. Serena pouted and threw a pencil at her. "Hey didn't I tell you that computers put me to sleep. I mean what the hello is a shower cadaver?"

Serena frowned at her. "STWR cadaver, Rae. Not shower. It's a -" But Rachel cut her off with a look that clearly said she didn't want to know. So the girls passed the rest of the afternoon talking about countless unimportant things and Serena even tutored Rae on her algebra. At 9:00, Ms Rutherford dropped Serena off at her apartment building.

Serena got to her apartment that she shared with her dad and unlocked the door to walk into complete chaos. There were beer bottles everywhere, on the floor, tables, counters and even the entertainment center. She saw her dad passed out on the sofa and set about cleaning up. Even so it wasn't until 12:30 when she finally headed toward her room.

But her dad stopped her. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the living room. "Hey Jessica. Where've you been." Serena's eyes widened. Oh no. Dad thought she was mom. No, no, no. This was bad! It wasn't the first time he had mistaken her for her mother. He did it every other day. She tried to pull out of his grasp but he kept a steady grip on her.

"No dad, it's Serena. Your daughter." She said as he held her close. He cupped her cheek in his hand ad tipped her head back. Suddenly panic set in and Serena started hitting her dad. "Dad, let go! Please, let go." He shook her and her head snapped back.

"Shut up, Jessica. I'm tired of you always lying to me. Your cheating on me, you filthy slut." He yelled, then he hit her. But not on her face, no not where others might see. And he kept hitting her until he got tired. The he shoved her toward her room.

Serena closed and locked the door behind her and slid to the floor. Al she could do was sob. Why her? Slowly she made her way toward her bed and was quickly asleep. She knew how sore she was going to be in the morning, but that was tomorrow's problem.


	2. Bruises

**Hey I'm back! Here's chapter two and I promise to add a Reid moment. Sorry it took a while to post this, sadly I am too stupid to figure out how to update these things. Now I know why everyone's first stories are one-shots! So here we go.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds . . . or Reid (sadly) but as for the rest it all comes from that old gray thing in my head. Enjoy! **

Serena groaned and sat up. Her clock read 6:00 am and she got out of bed quietly. Her dad would still be asleep and she could probably slip out of the house before he woke up. She dressed in some fresh clothes and once again bundle herself in her jacket. There were black and blue bruises all over her arms and her side hurt. Everything would heal up soon and she had become rather skilled at hiding the bruises. But now she'd have to hide it from the FBI!

"Hey Reid I need a nine letter word for unity." Morgan called. Reid looked up from the book he was reading and thought for a moment.

"Unanimity." Serena said, shifting her satchel. Reid frowned and mouthed the word then went back to reading.

"Wow that's a first." Prentiss muttered.

"Serena can you come here for a moment." Hitch called from his office. Serena inwardly winced at the prospect of climbing the stairs but she made it up without too much of a fuss. It had taken her a whole year to learn how to hide her pain. By now she was an expert.

Hotch held out a file to her. "Give this to Garcia, please." Serena took the folder but as she reached for it her jacket sleeve fell back, revealing her blue and bruised wrist. Hotch looked at her sharply. Serena pulled down the sleeve again and hurried from the room, mumbling about a tennis accident as she went.

"Serena . . ." Hotch called but she pretended not to hear him. Instead of heading to Garcia's room she went to the restroom and washed her face. Then she pulled up her sleeve and looked at her arm. Blue, purple, and yellow bruises. The yellow ones were old, almost healed, but the others were new and they hurt. She knew her other arm looked much the same and that her torso looked pretty bad from how much it hurt.

*.*

"Garcia?"

The red-headed tech-analyst looked up from her keyboard and saw Serena standing in the doorway. She waved her in.

"Yea?"

"I, uh, don't feel so good right now so I wanted to know if I could have the day off." Serena said and handed Garcia the file Hotch had given her.

"You don't have to ask me, ask Hotch. But sure it's alright, we got a lot of stuff done yesterday so it's not like we're behind or anything."

Serena smiled slightly, then felt bad because she had to lie to this sweet believing woman, all because she had let her dad hurt her. God, this was all her fault.

"Hotch is busy right now and I didn't want to bother him. Can you tell him I left though?"

"Sure Hun, feel better, okay."

Serena turned away before Garcia could see the tears in her eyes and walked quickly toward the elevators where she bumped into Reid. Literally. They both ended up on their butts, although Reid had somehow managed to save his coffee. Serena quickly got up and offered him a hand.

"I am so sorry, Dr Reid."

"It's not your fault, we both should have been looking where we were going. And you can just call me Reid, everyone else does."

"Well at least your coffee's safe." Serena said before dipping into the elevator.

*.*

Reid laughed and went to his desk, where his bag of sugar sat, already half gone. Morgan walked up.

"Hey kid, where've you been?"

Reid sipped his coffee and held it out toward the other man, showing the obvious. "Coffee break."

"Well glad you're back. I need help with this crossword puzzle and since I can't find Serena, I'm stuck with you." Morgan teased. He could help antagonizing the younger agent. That's what you did to your brother and he couldn't pass up the fun.

"Sorry can't. Sugar's killed my brain." Reid decided to punish Morgan for his teasing by refusing to help. "Go ask Garcia, I'm sure she can look the answers up for you."

"Ah, come on kid, don't be like that." When Reid gave him no answer Morgan sighed. Looks like he was going to have to threaten. "Okay I'll just go throw all the coffee in the toilet." he said with a smile, slowly walking away.

Reid looked up. "You wouldn't."

"Oh really?" Morgan said in a mock menacing tone, trying not to laugh.

"Fine, fine give me the puzzle. Just leave the coffee alone."

*.*

Serena walked into the bookstore a couple streets down from the where she lived. She had went to the drug store first and gotten some OTC pain relievers. Searching through the aisle she found a good book by Mark Twain and sat reading it in a corner.

"A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. I would have thought you had read that one already, Serena."

She looked up and smiled at her friend. "Hey, Kyle." she said, not looking up from the page. The dark haired boy sat next to her and started reading from her shoulder, putting his hair in her hair because he knew it was the only way to get her to look up. Eventually she did and gave him a small smile.

He smiled back and tossed his head to get his dark hair out of his face. When others boys did the exact same thing it looked cool. For Kyle, it looked like a nervous twitch, which Serena thought was impossibly cute. Kyle wasn't like other boys. He was sweet and patient and he truly cared about her. And despite all of that, they had never thought of asking the other out, even though they cared for each other. No, their thoughts were that they didn't need to go out to show that they cared, that's what other people did and they weren't other people.

"How's everything going at home." Kyle asked. He was the only one she had ever told about her dad. Of course he did kind of figure it out when he had seen her bruised up arm one day after school. She had asked him never to tell and he had promised that he wouldn't, although he felt like a horrible person for not calling the police on her dad right away. Now he looked after her and helped her with covering up around others.

Right now he needed to know how bad she was, because there was no doubt in his mind that her dad had hit her again. He knew her too well and could see it in her eyes. He grabbed her had and pulled her up. Then he took them both to the family bathroom , where he could look at her bruises in private.

After he had locked the door Serena slowly started to peel off her jacket, leaving her only in a tank-top. Kyle swallowed, well used to seeing the bruises littering his friends skin. She was such a pretty girl but she couldn't feel that way just because of her dad. It was sick and he wished he could tell someone or a take her away from her dad, but she wouldn't let him. She loved her dad, no matter what, and she didn't want to be taken away from him.

Kyle looked her over and lifted her shirt slightly so he could see the bruising there, the he let it drop down again. Once Serena was bundled in her jacket again he gave her a quick hug, smoothing her hair down.

When they left the bathroom, the store clerk gave them a look and shook his head. Kyle ignored him and bought Serena's book, quickly scribbling "I love you" on the inside cover. They walked out to the street together, holding hands.

Kyle turned to her, smiling. "How about some ice cream and a sandwich, then we can just chill in the park for the afternoon." Serena nodded and squeezed his hand.

"I'd like that."

*.*

**How'd you like it? Do you like Kyle? I know this one was a little short but I think it's heartfelt. I'll try to get chapter three up as soon as possible. And an impossible amount of thank you's to every one that read/alerted/reviewed the story. You've mad my day. **


	3. Family

**Wow that was fast! Chapter Three. I want to give thanks to: vamipermuggle and anyone else who was kind enough to read/review/alert the story. Any information I get wrong in this chapter, please excuse. I did a lot of research for this one and not everything may be accurate.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds . . . or Reid (sadly) but as for the rest it all comes from that old gray thing in my head. Enjoy!**

Serena walked into the bullpen and straight to Garcia's office. It had been a week since she had started working there and she had the hang of everyone's routines. Garcia was already typing away on her keyboard, so Serena looked at the board on the wall and chose a topic of research from there. Although her laptop couldn't do anything that Garcia's computers could, because her laptop wasn't allowed to access the FBI files that Garcia was open to, she always picked something she could get from the web.

She set about looking up the female populace of Quantico, VA and then narrowed it down to a specific age group. What she was left with was about 460+ women from 30-45 of age.

"Hey, Garcia?" Serena asked

"What do you need, kitten?" Garcia turned away from her computer to look at the young intern.

"Quantico has more than over four hundred women between that ages of thirty and forty- five. Do you think you could see how many are white?"

The tech-analyst smiled. "Already on it. There are about a hundred and twenty. I'll handle the rest. Pick another topic to look up and get back to me on what you find."

So Serena picked to write a paper on kidnappings , which was the fifth item on the list. It would save Garcia time and it would give her something to tease her brain on. She was in the middle of writing her second paragraph when agent Jareau knocked on Garcia's door.

"We got a case. I want both of you in the briefing room, please." Garcia looked at her with a question in her eyes but JJ shook her head and left. Serena was shocked. Why was she going to be there? When she couldn't think of a good reason she just decided to go to find out.

When she and Garcia got to the briefing room JJ started.

"On Sunday the body of thirty-eight year old Samantha Scott was found in the park. Then on Monday Ashlee Michel was found in an alley behind a local bar."

"Wait, did you say local?" When the others turned to look at her Serena immediately regretted opening her mouth

"Yes they were all found in Quantico." JJ replied. The media liaison had handed all the agent files. Serna looked over at Garcia's. The pictures of the two women were on the board in the front of the room. She looked at the and made a small choking sound, which she quickly covered with a cough. They both looked like her mother.

"They all have brown hair and brown eyes." Morgan said.

"And high cheekbones. In fact they look a lot alike. If they weren't related I would say they're twins." Prentiss added

"Was there any sexual component to the murders?" Reid asked JJ.

She shook her head. "No that's the strange thing. They weren't touched."

"Look at the way they're lying. Straight, on their backs, hands folded over their stomach. It's a burial pose, like how the dead are positioned in their coffins." Rossi said. "It's a show of remorse."

Hotch looked up from the file JJ had given him. "Prentiss, Morgan, go talk to the Mrs Scotts husband. Rossi and I will talk to Michel's brother. Reid, stay here and work on a geographic profile. And Garcia—"

He was interrupted JJ phone rang. She answered it quickly. "JJ . . . Okay . . . Thank-you, bye." She ended the call.

"They found another body."

*.*

Morgan knocked on the door and waited for Mr Scott to answer. After a moment the door opened to reveal a man in his late thirties.

"Mr Scott?" Prentiss asked.

"Yes."

"I'm Emily Prentiss, with the FBI." she said showing him her badge. "This is agent Derek Morgan. We wanted to ask you a couple of questions about your wife."

"Um, sure. If it helps you catch the bastard that did this I'll tell you any thing you want to know." The two agents followed the grieving man into the house and started their investigation.

*.*

Hotch and JJ arrived at Michel house and knocked on the door. Timothy Michel quickly answered the door and saw the two agents standing in front of him.

"Hello, I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, and this is Jennifer Jareau. We're with the FBI and were wondering if we could ask you a few questions."

Timothy opened the door more. Allowing them to come in. "Of course, what do you need to know?"

*.*

Rossi and Reid arrived at the dump sight of the newest body around noon. The victim, sixteen year old Zia Phillips, was found next to a Deli on Williams street. Same burial pose, except now there were flowers clamped in the young girls hands.

Reid frown and pushed his brown hair behind his ear. "The flowers are new."

Rossi walked over from talking to a detective. "He's advancing, but the flowers shows that he's even more remorseful than before. What's different?"

"The only difference is the age. Which makes no sense. Serial killers tend to stay in the same age area for their victims." Reid puzzled over it more as he and Rossi made there way back to the BAU.

*.*

Serena rolled her shoulders to get rid of some of the stiffness and looked over at Garcia. The tech-analyst had been working on the geographic profile and since there was only three bodies so far it didn't take them too long. All the murders were centered around the northwest side of town.

Garcia smiled at Serena. "You sure are holding up well, with all of this." Garcia said.

"I did have to deal with a lot of stuff like this last year when my friend was kidnapped. You got Rachel back before it was too late, but I saw the papers."

Garcia reached out and took Serena's hand, giving it a slight squeeze.

*.*

They were all back in the briefing room. Garcia had put up the picture of the newest victim on the board.

"This is sixteen year old Zia Phillips." JJ told them in her business-like tone

"The flowers are new." Morgan commented with a slight frown.

"They're roses. Carolina roses, they mean 'Love is Dangerous', according to the floral dictionary which records the traditional meanings of flowers. But the White Heather means 'Protection From Danger'. Love is dangerous, protect from danger. The flowers also show that his sense of remorse has heightened."

_Your love will always protect you. _The old saying her mom used to tell her flitted through her head. It was part of a poem that she had written but had neverpublished.

"Why kill them if he's going to feel so bad about it?" Serena asked before she could stop herself.

"It's most likely that he felt it was needed. He had to kill them but afterward he felt bad that he had done so." Hotch said. "To him, these killing were priority."

"The victims most likely reminded him of someone in his life. By killing the he's killing the people they represent. Eventually he'll go for the real thing."

*.*

"Hotch?"

"Yes, Serena?"

Serena took a deep breath. "I want to go with you to talk to Zia's parents."

"No." he replied, not looking up.

Serena walked further into the office and sat down in one the chairs in front of his desk. "Sir, Zia Phillips is-was a friend of mine. I can help with her parents plus I-I need this. Please."

Hotch looked her in the eyes for a long moment. "Alright. Tell Reid he's coming too."

Serena nodded and left.

"Reid, you Hotch and I are going to see the Phillips family."

*.*

"Hello Mrs Phillips. Uh, these agents want to talk to you. Is Sarah here?" The petite brunette nodded.

"She's upstairs in Zi-Zia's room." Serena sat down on the living room couch, Reid looked around, while Hotchner addressed Mrs Phillips.

"Do you know why Zia was out so late, Mrs Phillips?" Hotch asked.

"I had asked her to buy some eggs for dinner. Her dad wasn't home so I sent her. Oh God, this is all m-my fault." The brunette started to sob.

Reid asked Serena if she would show him Zia's room. When they got there, Sarah had apparently left.

"Did she have a diary?" he asked as he looked through her closet.

"Not a material one no, it was all on her computer." Reid sat down at the computer and turned it on. It was locked. He tried birthdays, family names and anything else that popped into his mind.

"What's her boyfriend's name?" he asked.

Serena thought for a moment. "She doesn't have one. Try Squishy Squashy." He typed it in the 'Welcome' sign popped up.

"Squishy Squashy?" What kind of password was that. He didn't know, didn't want to know. It sounded gross.

"It's the name of her teddy-bear." Serena said and shooed Reid out the way. "I'll know what to look for if we find something." But after thirty minutes of reading she had come up with nothing important. Reid took over and she went back down stairs.

"Hotch, I'm going to take a breather. I'll be back in a moment." Hotch nodded and the front door thudded closed behind her. As she walked across the lawn she heard something behind her and before she could scream a rough hand was clamped over her mouth.

"You're going to be a good girl, Jessica."

_*.*_

**Ooooh cliff hanger. Sorry if you hate he for that. I'm going on Vaca soon so I'll start working on chapter four when I get back. Hold on till then. Lots of love.**


	4. GoodBye

**Chapter four! *everyone cheers* This might be the last chapter, although I plan on making an epilogue. I know it was short but I've never been good with long stories. I tend to ramble . . . Yah me, who would have guessed it? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds . . . or Reid (sadly) but as for the rest it all comes from that old gray thing in my head. Enjoy!**

Hotch thanked Mrs Phillips for her time and called Reid and Serena down from upstairs. When only Reid arrived he remembered that Serena had went outside. He frowned, that had been about ten minutes ago. She should have been back by now.

"Reid, did Serena go back upstairs?" he asked, already knowing the answer but still having to ask it. Just in case.

"No, why?" The young genius asked.

"Because I haven't seen her since she went outside ten minutes ago." Hotch said striding out of the house. Reid followed and hit speed dial.

"Red-hot speaking." Garcia said in a sparkly voice.

"Hey Garcia. I need you to look up Serena's address and send it to my phone.'

"Alright you should get it in a second. Why, did something happen?" she asked, her voice carrying a hint of worry.

"Yea, she's missing. I'll get back to you if we need anything else." He hung up as they got into the SUV. He gave Hotch the directions and they arrived in front the apartment complex in about thirty minutes.

Reid tucked some hair behind his ear and followed Hotch up to Serena's apartment door. Something was nagging at his mind, shouting for his attention but the Hotch's voice pushed it back.

"Serena this is agent Hotchner, can you please open the door?" The unit chief shouted. There was no answer and Hotch sighed. He couldn't kick the door in, it was against the law. Serena wasn't under suspicion of any crime, so they weren't allowed to trespass on her property.

"Reid go to the front office and get the key for apartment number 203." He turned back to the door when the younger agent left. Serena shouldn't have been with them. Why had he listened to her? _Because she needed closure too. _A voice whispered in his head. Serena hit the physical description of the other victims, but what were the odd of her getting kidnapped by the unsub right under their noses?

Reid came back with the key and soon they were in the apartment. They looked around and found Serena's bedroom, which was clean and organized. A bookshelf against a wall held lots of book on numerous different topics. On her nightstand was "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and a folded piece of paper. Hotch unfolded it and read the few words written.

_Dear Kyle,_

_I'm sorry. You can tell now._

_Serena_

Hotch quickly called Garcia.

"Garcia?"

"S'up Chief?"

"Do you know if Serena had any friends named Kyle?" he asked. If he could talk to Kyle that might give them a hint as to where to find Serena. If they could find Kyle that was.

"Uh, she was in school with a Kyle Summers in seventh grade. A year before she dropped out of school to do home schooling." she replied a moment later after some furious typing.

"Thanks, Garcia. Send me his address."

"Already on it. Call me if you need anything."

Hotch hung up, tucked the note in his jacket pocket, and he and Reid were once again driving. Kyle lived ten blocks away from Serena and with their lights flashing it took only a couple of minutes to get there. Kyle answered the door on the second know.

"Hello, can I help you?" he asked turning his I-pod off.

"I'm SSA Aaron Hotchner, and this is Dr Reid, from the BAU. We were wondering if you could answer some questions." Kyle instantly paled and sagged a little.

"Oh God, is Serena alright?" he asked ushering them inside. Hotch handed him the note and Kyle read it, brushing his finger over the slightly wet tear marks. He felt something in him drop, like a cold stone in his stomach.

"Kyle, what is she talking about? What can you tell?" Hotch asked gently, but in a urgent voice.

"Um, she's talking about her dad. Can you please find her? I don't know how much more she can take." Kyle was pacing and biting his thumb nail.

"What about her dad, Kyle?" Hotch demanded of the worried boy. "I can help her but I need information."

Kyle stopped moving and looked him in the eyes. "Her dad would beat her. He would leave bruises all over her arms and torso. I was the only one she told, but she made me promise not to tell." He swallowed and sat down on the couch looking at his hands. "She made me promise not to tell, she didn't want to be taken away from her dad, so she kept it a secret. She dropped out of school so the teachers wouldn't find out. It's been going on for three years as far as I know."

Hotch's mind flashed back to the bruise he had seen on the young interns wrist. That hadn't been a tennis accident.

"Kyle I need you to tell me everything you know on the way back to the BAU." Hotch said.

*.*

Serena curled up on the stone floor, hugging her arms to herself to keep warm. Her dad had brought her here and left. He was still calling her Jessica but she didn't smell any alcohol on him. That scared her. When he was drunk she could confuse him, sober she didn't know what to expect. She looked around the inside of the familiar crypt. It was in the cemetery where her dad's mother was buried. She had never been on the inside though. It was really cold and stuffy and she felt an instinctual need to be quiet in this place of rest. Sadly it would be her resting place too.

She had no doubt now that her dad had committed those murders. _The victims most likely reminded him of someone in his life. By killing the he's killing the people they represent. Eventually he'll go for the real thing. _Rossi's words ran through her mind. The older women had been her mom, Zia was her. Dad couldn't get to mom, so he had went for her. His daughter. That's why he'd killed Zia. To kill her he was killing his daughter. The only reminder he had of his wife.

Tears rolled down Serena's face as she tried futilely to get her hands free from the ropes holding the behind her back. She stopped when the crypt door opened. Knowing her dad had returned. She tensed waiting for him to hit her. But he didn't instead he placed a small tape recorder in front of her and pressed record.

Serena looked at him incomprehensively, then shook her head no. he hit her across the face and she whimpered. The she started to speak. Slowly. Leaving a message for everyone that she needed to say good-bye to.

*.*

Hotch, Kyle and Reid arrived at the BAU and Hotch called the team to the conference room. He explained to the what had happened and asked Kyle to tell the other what he knew. Kyle swallowed a couple times then repeated everything he had told agent Hotchner. Everyone grew silent and Penelope started crying, tears running silently down her face.

Halfway through an agent came in and Hotch a small Ziploc bag. On a sticky note was his name and the word "Listen". inside was a small black tape recorder. He asked the agent when it had been delivered but she said she had come back from break and it had been on her desk. He sat it on the table and hit play.

"_Um I guess I'm supposed to say good-bye do here we go." _Serena's voice sounded pained, but she kept going.

"_To the BAU team: thanks for this last week. You guys really showed me what family's for. Hotch, keep Jack close, he's very special and you never know how long you have with those you love."_

"_Garcia, thank you for letting me be your student. I learned a lot and you turned out to be the big sister I never had." _

"_To the Rutherfords: I love you and I'll miss you. And Kyle. If you're listening I want you to got to the old crypt next to my grandmother's grave and put some flowers on the steps. I used to do that every summer and it looks like this time I won't. I love you and I wish I could have told you good-bye in person."_

There was a click and the tape recorder stopped. Kyle had tears on his face and he wiped them away. All the others were silent. Reid was the first one to speak.

"Hotch can you replay that last part, her good-bye to Kyle?"

"_. . . If you're listening I want you to got to the old crypt next to my grandmother's grave and put some flowers on the steps."_

"The only cemetery with a crypt in a fifteen mile radius is the Johnson cemetery. She told us that for a reason." Reid said and quickly scribbled two hasty dots on the map. He connected three then drew a circle around the rest. "The three bodies were all found within a five mile radius of the apartment. The cemetery is about seven miles away from the second dump site. It's all within the unsub's comfort zone."

"Garcia can you pull up a picture of Serena's mom, she was submitted to a mental institute three years ago. Her names Jessica Carter." Hotch asked. Once the picture was up looks of recognition and understanding dawned on the teams faces.

"The father's the unsub. The first two murders were the mom, the last one, Zia, was Serena." Prentiss said.

Rossi nodded. "Now he has Serena because he can't get to the mother. She's in LA, out of reach. Her daughter isn't though. That explains the abuse."

"So he took her to the crypt." Hotch said already walking form the room. The rest of the team followed, except Garcia, and they split into two SUVs, Kyle tagging along with JJ, Morgan and Prentiss. No one questioned his right to go, because from the looks of it he'd probably just steal a car and follow them.

The made it to the crypt in less that five minutes, cutting the sirens when they were a block away. Hotch went down first and stopped short at the site of Serena being help by her dad, a knife pressed to her throat. Her eyes widened and a small smile touched her lips. She knew they would get it. She was just sad they were too late. Her whole body felt like a punching bag after her dad had finished hitting her. Aside from the slap he hadn't hit her face. What worried her was the knife. That's how all the other girls had died. A slit throat, just a cut into that main artery. She saw the rest of the team and somehow knew that Kyle was right outside. She wanted to see him. One last time.

"Mr Carter, drop your weapon and let your daughter go." Hotch told the man evenly. The only response he got was a shake of the head and a soft gasp as the knife pressed harder into Serena's neck. She gave them a small smile then stomped her foot down on her dad's foot. He cursed and let her go, but not before he got her back.

Serena looked down at the red stain growing across the front of her white blouse. She heard the gunshot clearly over the ringing in her ears, hen everything went black as she collapsed in a dead faint.

***Tear*Tear* That was soooo hard to write. I did do any research for this chapter so this one's probably really inaccurate, but hey it's one in the morning and I'm tired. Plus who knows I might be psychic and there really is a Johnson cemetery in Quantico. Epilogue will be coming in a couple days or however fast I can finish it. I have so many ideas in my head and now I'm rambling . . . **


	5. Epilogue

**After much thought and beating my head against a wall I have finally started writing the Epilogue. This story was short but a lot of fun to write and I give mega brownie points to everyone that read. (.) = Sorry I just had to write that! Anyways thank you all and uh well here's the epilogue. Oh and the song for this story is: ****Innocent by Taylor Swift.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Criminal Minds . . . or Reid (sadly) but as for the rest it all comes from that old gray thing in my head. Enjoy!**

*.*

Serena finger the necklace that Kyle had given her when she had got out of the hospital last year. It was a small silver heart and she never took it off. Garcia had given her a giant plush kitten that now dominated her bedroom at her foster parents' house. She had been lucky to find a foster family willing to keep her in Quantico, but she was pretty sure Garcia and Hotch had pulled a few strings to keep her in town. She was glad for it. She wasn't sure how she would've coped without all of their support.

She had gotten out of the hospital after a couple weeks. The knife wound hadn't been big just deep, luckily it had missed any main arteries and veins. The whole team had visited her periodically and Kyle had stayed with her everyday after school until the nurses forced him to go home. She still smiled at the memory of him trying to sleep in the chair by her bedside, pillow in hand. Unfortunately he wasn't family. She didn't have any family anymore. Her dad had gotten the bullet removed and as soon as he recovered he was put on trial and shipped off to prison. She had written him once. He never wrote back.

She sighed and crossed the street to the FBI offices and went up to the floor for the BAU. Kyle was busy helping his dad until four so she was here on her day off. She didn't mind and the foster home was not where she wanted to be on this bright day. That was another thing for her to be happy about. The first summer in three years that she wasn't suffocating in her jacket. She had been tempted to throw the jacket away but she hadn't wanted to part with it. Even for a lot of bad memories it brought up it had gave her some solace through those years. She was going to keep it.

Serena thought back to that day last year when she was convinced that it was her last day to live. She had left the note for Kyle before her dad had dragged her to the crypt, but she had had no real hope that it was going to be found; that she was going to be found. But it was and she was glad for the feeling of having her life back. It was an amazing feeling.

She went straight to Garcia's room, where the now blonde tech-analyst was typing away at her key-board.

"Hey, Garcia." Serena said, sitting down in a chair.

"Morning Kitten, what can I do for you?" Garcia asked brightly.

"Oh, I don't need anything I'm just stopping by and hanging with the team until Kyle is free." Serena replied.

"Ohh," Garcia said in a knowing voice. "And how are things going with young Kyle?"

Serena blushed. "Um we've been dating a little, nothing serious. Everything's still pretty much the same between us since before you know."

"That's great! Did your dad . . .?" Garcia trailed off looking embarrassed yet curious.

"No he never replied. But it's okay, I didn't expect him to." Serena pulled her knees up and wrapped her arms around them. That was the neat thing about being petite, you can do things like that in a chair. They sat there in companionable silence for a while then Serena went to visit the others.

*.*

It was a bright sunny day and children were running wild all over the park. Owners were walking there dogs and ice-cream was being sold by the second. All in all it was the perfect summer day. Right now everything seemed so perfect, like a fairytale.

Serena arrived at the large oak tree and sat down under its cool shade. Kyle should be arriving soon so she pulled out a book and read. It was "This Lullaby" and she was just starting in on the third chapter when Kyle plopped down beside her. They sat in silence for a while, bumping shoulders, the Kyle gave her a kiss on the cheek. It was sweet, having your best friend as your boyfriend. There was more understanding.

"I love you, Serena Carter." he said and wrapped his arms around her. She smiled and closed her book, leaning her head on his shoulder.

"I love you too, Kyle Summers." Serena whispered. Then they just sat in the shade of the oak tree, happy with each other and happy to be alive.


End file.
